The present invention relates to an apparatus for forming coils of flexible strands of material, and more particularly for winding and packaging shoelaces into flattened coils of shoelace pairs.
Various apparatus for winding flexible strands of material are known. Examples of such known apparatus as shown in the following U.S. Patents. U.S. Pat. No. 677,993 issued on July 9, 1901 to W. Jones; U.S. Pat. No. 697,006 issued on Apr. 8, 1902 to C. Nuhring; U.S. Pat. No. 972,222 issued on Oct. 11, 1910 to W. L. Paul; and U.S. Pat. No. 1,202,645 issued on Oct. 24, 1916 to J. L. Baldwin each show a hose reel. U.S. Pat. No. 2,620,609 issued on Dec. 9, 1952 to D. H. Pope; U.S. Pat. No. 3,053,024 issued on Sept. 11, 1962 to J. Wexler; and U.S. Pat. No. 3,145,516 issued on Aug. 25, 1964 to C. N. Hannon et al each show an apparatus for packaging newspapers. U.S. Pat. No. 3,694,998 issued on Oct. 3, 1972 to M. D. Brinkley shows an apparatus for wrapping a flexible endless band, such as a tube for a pneumatic tire into a coil. More particularly, U.S. Pat. No. 3,024,580 issued on Mar. 13, 1962 to N. McIntyre; U.S. Pat. No. 3,416,287 issued on Dec. 17, 1968 to J. L. Hawkins et al; and U.S. Pat. No. 3,906,701 issued on Sept. 23, 1975 to N. McIntyre each show an apparatus for packaging shoelaces by first forming a circular coil of the shoelaces, flattening the shoelace coil, and applying a label around the flattened shoelace coil.
An object of the present invention is to provide an apparatus for winding and packaging shoelaces in pairs which provides a much less complicated apparatus than the prior-art apparatus discussed above.
It is another objective of the present invention to provide an apparatus for winding and packaging shoelaces in pairs which includes a novel counting device for controlling the winding station of the apparatus.
It is yet another objective of the present invention to provide an apparatus for winding and packaging shoelaces in pairs which employs air-operated actuator devices to operate the major workstations thereof.
It is still another objective of the invention to provide an apparatus for winding and packaging shoelaces in pairs of the class described which further includes a central control device for controlling the operation of the various air-operated actuator devices in proper sequence.